Non-Renewal Program for Academic Professional and Administrative Employees

The Non-Renewal Program is an elective benefit program provided to academic professional and administrative (P&A) employees who have received a written non-renewal of appointment notice and who meet all the eligibility requirements as described.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the Non-Renewal Program, P&A (93xx, 96xx, and 97xx) employees must be non-renewed while holding a nine-month or longer appointment of not less than 75 percent in a qualifying appointment type as noted below at the time the notice is given. In addition, employees must be actively at work on their last day of employment to be eligible for the Program.

• Academic Professionals in job codes 9621-9630; 97xx (except 9755, 9756, and 9757) with Appointment Type of:

  (H) Probationary;
  (J) Multi-Year Contract;
  (K) Annual Renewable Contract; or
  (Z) Non-Credit Teaching/Other Professional Work

• Academic Administrators in job codes 93xx; 9631-9640 with an Appointment Type of:

  (J) Multi-Year Contract or
  (K) Annual Renewable Contract

Exclusions

In addition to not meeting the specific eligibility requirements, academic employees are ineligible for participation in this program if they fall into any one of the following employee categories, classifications, or groups:

• not actively at work on the last day of employment;
• regular faculty (tenured or tenure-track);
• term faculty (contract, temporary, visiting, or adjunct);
• academic professional and administrative appointees with an appointment term of flexible hourly, summer research, lump sum only (Z), or summer session only (S);
• academic administrative staff with appointment types of (L) limited or (M) acting/interim;
• 9755 Research Specialist, 9756 Community/Clinical Preceptor, 9757 Industrial Fellow;
• individuals hired for one semester without a search under non-competitive appointments;
• 95xx employees;
• employees eligible for Phased Retirement or the Terminal Agreement;
• employees participating in another University exit program, voluntary or involuntary, to which the University contributes or has contributed monies (including the Academic Disability Program); or
• employees terminated for cause.

Program Benefits

Benefits of this program are based on the employee's continuous service with the University. One full year of service is credited for each anniversary from the employee’s most recent date of hire through the last day of employment. This period is non-continuous if it is broken by a voluntary termination of employment - no matter how brief. For a comprehensive explanation of continuous service, refer to the Definition Section of this policy.

Under the program, a lump-sum payment is made to the employee equal to one week of pay per full year of continuous University service as defined above, up to a maximum of 52 weeks of pay. One week of pay is equal to the employee's regular hourly rate times the number of hours per week (maximum of 40) the employee was regularly scheduled to work as of the last day of employment. This payment is subject to payroll taxes. Severance pay of this type does affect unemployment benefits. The employee is instructed to contact a Minnesota WorkForce Center for more information regarding unemployment compensation.

Medical and/or dental coverage may be continued for up to eighteen months following termination of employment, but not after the last day of the month in which the employee becomes covered under another group medical plan that has no limitations or exclusions with respect to any pre-existing conditions of the employee or, for family coverage, the employee's dependents. If the employee is a federal employee with federal health benefits, this continued medical and dental coverage is not available through the University. If the employee becomes eligible for Medicare before or during the subsidized period, Medicare then becomes primary with the UPlan secondary for this individual. If a spouse is age 65 or older, the application must be made for Medicare Part B upon termination of employee's employment. Medicare then becomes primary with the UPlan secondary for this individual.

The University will contribute toward the cost of the employee's medical and/or dental coverage for the following periods:

The University contribution for this coverage will be the same as if the employee had remained employed. If the above subsidy is for less than 18 months, coverage may be continued at the employee’s own expense for the balance of up to 18 months; Employee Benefits will bill the employees directly for the unsubsidized months.

Dependent coverage may be added at the expense of the employee while covered by this program during open enrollment time or if there is a change in the employee’s family status. If medical and/or other coverages are canceled or dropped for any reason during the time that the University is subsidizing coverages, including, but not limited to, cases where employees do not make payments towards their required contributions for coverages, then the University will not be responsible for any further compensation to or on behalf of the employee in connection with these coverages.

Note: The continuation of medical and dental coverage available under COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) runs concurrently with the benefits extended under this program. See Appendix: Benefits Information Supplement, for further information on COBRA.

The University reserves the right to alter the terms of or eliminate this program.

Program Participation

If a P&A employee elects to participate in the Non-Renewal Program for Academic Professional and Administrative Employees, employment must be terminated on a date mutually agreed to by the employee and the responsible administrator and it must be within 60 calendar days following the issue date of the non-renewal notice. On the last day of employment, the employee must be present at the work location and not on vacation or other leave of absence.

In exchange for participating in this program, the employee waives any right to a notice period to which entitlement is held and all other claims against the University. Since qualifying for this program may result in the termination of appointment prior to the end of the employment agreement, the employee may be disqualified for unemployment compensation benefits. The employee should contact the state unemployment office for more information. As part of this program, the employee also agrees not to reapply or be rehired for University employment for a period equal to the number of weeks of severance paid, beginning on the first day of non-employment.

Individuals submitting incorrect, false, or fraudulent information will be subject to disciplinary action including revocation of the program and termination of employment, if still employed.